Month: October 2005

Bush did what I predicted. He gave us a life-raft nominee intended to shore up his base. Bush has three years to go. He’s like a prize fighter in a 12-round bout who get’s knocked down twice in the first round. He has no legs, he doesn’t know where he is, or where the next punch is coming from.

Grabbing and clutching, he just wants to buy some time to clear his head. Meanwhile, he is trying to bribe the judges, on the off chance he can remain standing to the final bell.

By putting Porter Goss at the CIA, Michael Chertoff at Homeland Security, John Negroponte at the NIA, Abu Gonzales at Attorney General, and attempting to put his personal lawyer on the Supreme Court, he hopes to cover up his abuse of the intelligence community, his torture policy, and his other crimes.

The nomination of Samuel Alito represents Plan B. He now proposes to overturn Casey and Roe, and anyone who fails to support Bush through his many travails, is effectively abandoning the anti-choice movement at THE critical time.

He is betting that all his failings will be overlooked in the interest of doing away with a woman’s right to choose.

By replacing O’Connor with Alito, he flips the Casey case.

Versus:

So, this is the showdown we have all feared and hoped to avoid. Alito is on the record as opposing Casey. He is not a stealth candidate. He is openly hostile to women’s reproductive rights. The American people do not support overturning Roe or Casey. Arlen Specter claims to be pro-choice. He is the only pro-choice Republican on the Judiciary Committee, but he is the Chairman. Arlen needs to know that he is the last roadblock preventing a right-wing steamroller from crushing the federal protections of a woman’s right to choose.

Mama Marisol sees things she sits in the graveyard she sees skeletons dance like last night they made a circle in the churchyard just a dancin with they bony arms thrown out across the shoulder blades on either side dancin two steps to the left an stompin down then two steps to the left an stompin down the circle goin round by two steps to the left an stompin around and around.

“That’s for killin’ mojo, that dance,” says Mama Marisol. “They danced hard. I tell you what, cher — big men will eat ashes before that moon is full, an little men will laugh an sing!”

I’d like to welcome the latest lefty blog to the blogosphere: Political Cortex – Brain Food for the Body Politic. You’ll see that it’s been set up by some very familiar names from Daily Kos and Booman Tribune. I wish them great success. Go and visit (but make sure you come back here eventually). 🙂

Happy Halloween!

The leader of the Kitties for Frog-Marching Movement is all dressed up for tonite’s trick-or-treating:

Just in on CNN: 2 people to replace Scooter Libby…David Addington as VP’s Chief of Staff…John Hannah as new VP National Security Advisor…Scary!

Update [2005-10-31 13:43:37 by catnip]: Via Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday appointed his counsel, David Addington, as chief of staff to replace Lewis Libby, who was indicted in the CIA leak investigation, the vice president’s office said.

Cheney also appointed John Hannah, who had served on his national security staff since March 2001, as assistant to the vice president for national security affairs. Libby had held both positions.

Addington has served as counsel to the vice president since January 20, 2001.

See Murray Waas and Paul Singer’s most recent article about Addington here.

One of the right’s primary arguments against a single-payer national health system is it will be more expensive than private insurance.  They argue against another federal program.  What they have not recognized is all other countries that have public health plans are actually cheaper than the US as expressed in expenditures per GDP and per capita.  In addition, public health systems in some cases provide better overall health service as measured through an increased life expectancy.

An important day today in the diplomatic manoeuvers around Syria, with the joint presentation at the UN Security Council of a very tough resolution on Syria  by the USA and France.

Below, I will try to make some sense of what happened, how we got to that point, why France is working hand-in-hand with the USa there and what it means in terms of likelihood of a war with Syria.

title edited from earlier “Syria @ UN: regime change on the cheap and why France is cooperating” which was too long to fit in